Pitchfork's creative director discusses the design of Cover Stories

Neil Bennett |
May 17, 2013

The creative process behind the music site's innovative, elegant layouts for in-depth interviews with the likes of Daft Punk, Bat for Lashes and Savages.

"For mobile, we don't even bother. It's just too small for this type of execution to even make sense. If I'm reading this story on a screen that small, I just want nothing more than dark type on a light background anyways."

DA: In general, with projects like this how do you balance simple, elegant design with commercial imperatives?

MR: "We put our readers before commercial imperatives, which usually informs how ads and additional UI elements become integrated. We'd like to have it happen organically so it makes sense and feels like it belongs with the content.

"Innovative and transparent advertising executions are a priority for us, and we're not looking to shoehorn those things in."

DA: How do you intend to build new feature types based on what you've created?

MR: "Although we have various plans in the works, we're also trying to stay flexible and agile. So for now, not sure."